A little over a year ago a true little lady and precious gift to our family was gathered up into the Lord's arms and rescued from this earthly world.
I say "little" because she was very petite and stood at just 5 feet and 1/2 inch tall, and "lady"........well, all it took was meeting and spending a little time with her to KNOW she was a LADY in every sense of the word.
We called her "MOM" even though she was our grandmother.
Besides mom, being a little lady, other things stood out about her. Two of those being her TRUE ENJOYMENT of work and her spend-thrift ways.
Mom loved growing things. She especially loved the "free gifts" God provides each season. So when summer got ready to rest, and autumn winds (No doubt from the north) chilled her fragile bones she'd turn her dimming eyes with anticipation to the tall walnut trees that grow on my parents' place, eagerly awaiting the ripening of the walnuts and for the autumn breezes and gravity to deliver God's new gifts with a " CRACK and a THUMP" to the ground below.
She would work in earnest adding walnuts to her drying stores until the last one fell. I recall visiting in the fall and seeing her time-wrinkled hands stained black from hulling walnuts.
After hulling and allowing the walnuts to dry, it was in her words, " time to burst 'em". She did this with an old hatchet. She gladly taught my oldest how to do this several falls ago. Once this chore was done it was time to " pick 'em" through separating the nuts from the shells.
After they were "bursted" and "picked" she would freeze and bake delicious treats. She dared not let any go to waste. She was always glad to share them.
I have never known anyone who TRULY LOVED work like her. I believe work was the hardest thing she ever had to give up. She was a model homemaker. It is easy to see her in the woman described in Proverbs 31.
This fall I enjoyed gathering walnuts with my children just as Mom did. As we worked
together it felt quite natural talking to them about ALL the gifts, GREAT AND SMALL, that God freely gives and sometimes gathers from us through the seasons of our lives.
With Thanksgiving only a few days away I hope you all will find it quite easy to see God's gifts great and small, given and gathered and take a moment to thank the God who gives and takes away.
My youngest son stopped carving for a quick smile.
